9 Tasting Notes

Jasmine, very commonly seen with green tea. Probally too common that most of the commercialized tea bags are filled with low quality stuff; makes me hate it for a while.

However, I can see a lot of work has been put in to make this tea. They are rolled into rope-like knot(sorry, doesn’t look like butterfly to me). The jasmie flavor does not overpower the green tea. Not bitter at all. It is a very plesent experience because you not only smell the jasmin, but you also taste it. It’s very satisfying.

So far, it is the best jasmine green I’ve tried. It tastes exactly as it should. It’s just that, for this price, I was expecting something more.

Preparation

I love almonds. I like them as snack and in drinks. I really like the aroma it gives out as well. This tea smells just what I wanted.

Unfortunately, the taste didn’t came out as good as expected. It is very….thin. Couldn’t taste much almond. Maybe it’s because I’m use to those instant almond drink before. I do agree with some says it can be used in cooking, or mixing with another drink. But for me, I like to drink my tea plain, and this one can’t meet my satisfaction.

Smells very nice though! They definite made it smell like real root beer. I think I can use it as a air freshener lol. The taste is disappointing. I don’t add sugar in my tea, maybe that will taste better?

UPDATE: I gave the rest away to my friend. He said it taste totally like root beer….I guess I have to go get some more :P

UPDATE 2: Well, sorry to say, I still can’t get it to taste like root beer.

Preparation

Umm…how should I put this. I don’t mind lemon as a fruit. However, when it is combined with tea, it taste strange. The lemon flavor jumps in front of every other ingredients. Makes me feels like just drinking lemon water.

This one is no different. And the second steep was terrible.

If you like lemon and all other things related to lemon, this is a tea for you.

Preparation

But the taste…is not as impressive as I originally thought. I can’t taste the coconut. The mulberries totally covered the flavor of the white tea. Maybe I need to steep it longer. The second steep lost the flavor totally.

What I will try is to increase the tea amount from 1.5 tsp to 2.5 next time. Hoping it will give it more flavor.

UPDATE: Thanks tigress_al! I just let tea sit in the pot. Didn’t bother to take it out this time. The coconut flavor came out quite strong, along with the white tea. 2.5tsp with 15+ steep time.

On my second try of this tea, I decide to use boiling water, 3 teaspoons, and 2 min steep time.

And it turns out to be excellent!! The oolong flavor was brought out, no longer shawdowed by the milky flavor. The milky flavor still stays, and blends in very well with the rest of the oolong…uhmmm~~ this is going to be my personal favorite oolong now!

Preparation

Tie Kwan Yin is my favorite type of oolong tea. It does not require long steep to bring out the flavor. If you like to have a light oolong, this is it for you.

I’ve tried various type of Tie Kwan Yin before, but none of them are organic. Does it make a difference? For me, I really can’t tell. If I have them side by side I may able to but…all of my other Tie Kwan Yin are gone!! They are too good to just sit on the shelf. Still, the color, smell, and flavor are just what I remembered.

I personally recommend to use Gongfu Cha(工夫茶) style to steep this tea. Now, this is different from what DAVIDsTEA suggesting, nor I’m saying they are wrong. I just like this way better, and my way is different from the traditional Gongfu Cha…haha!
Here’s the steps I use:
-use a small tea pot(cup sized or a infuser ball), fill it about 1/2 or 2/3 of tea
-Use boiling water, steep for 10~30s, dump the water this time.
-Use boiling water again, steep for 1~2min, depends on how strong you want.

This way will give you a light but flavorful tea. With this method, you can steep the tea 3~6 times, depends on the amount of tea and water. This method also works on some straight oolong as well.

Preparation

I remember the last time I drank mate is Rainforest Maté Tea from Mighty Leaf(got it from their collection box). It wasn’t bad, although I found that Licorice+fruit combination a little bit strange.

This mate, however, smells totally different. As the name suggest, it smells just like freshly squeezed juice! The sale rep told me “this contains more caffeine than coffee…and can keep you going for 10+ hours”. Hey, I’m in!

It taste exactly how it smells. The tropical fruit blends very well together. It also covers the bitterness of mate, make this tea somewhat similar to a herbal tea(except it’s high caffeine). I was able to steep it twice without losing flavor. One thing to note is that this tea is finer than I thought. I’ve should use a mesh not hole steeper.

And yes, it did kept me going for 10 hours, from a short sleep.

Preparation

This oolong has a nice milky smell. I don’t know how they got the smell though. The sales rep told me the farmers left the leafs over the winter so they collect the moisture. Does it explain the taste? I don’t know. Maybe I will dig into it.

I steeped the tea twice. Fist time at 6 min and second time at 7 min. The taste was still good at the second steep. I have to say I don’t like the milky part after the second steep. It somehow feels…too creamy for my taste. If you are like the traditional taste of oolong. This tea may not suite you. However, it can be a nice change.